Politics expert explains Mayor Karen Bass' negative polling after the fires
A new poll shows that less than 20% of Los Angeles residents believed that Mayor Karen Bass handled the January wildfires well.
The latest LA Times-UC Berkeley poll shows that 41% of residents described Bass' response to the disaster as poor or very poor. Researchers also found that 19% of Angelenos thought she did an excellent or good job during the fires, while 22% classified her performance as fair.
The poll also asked residents about their confidence in her ability to manage the recovery process. A majority, 54%, had little or not much confidence in her ability to lead Los Angeles out of the disaster, while 34% had a great deal or some belief she had the capability to oversee the wildfire recovery.
"This is significant," said Sara Sadhwani, a politics professor at Pomona College. "This is a mayor who was incredibly popular."
Sadhwani said Bass' trip to Ghana days before the fire, her explanations about whether she was properly warned about the devastating winds that fueled the flames and the demotion of the city's fire chief are likely among the reasons why the mayor's approval numbers are tanking.
"If there's an opportunity for her to change something about this recovery process, which already has been marked with controversy and questions about who is actually in charge of recovery," Sadhwani said. "If she's able to make some changes, perhaps, she can win some of that support back."
Responding to the poll, the mayor's office said she is focused on the recovery process.
"The Mayor is focused on recovery which right now is months ahead of expectations and she is going to continue pushing forward," the statement said.
Bass toured one of the city's four fire recovery centers on Tuesday, where victims can get financial help and job placement services.
"When we go to these centers, the people that we are meeting with, the people that are here for services, are still going through incredible trauma," she said.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Newsweek
6 hours ago
- Newsweek
Kamala Harris Says LA Protest 'Overwhelmingly Peaceful' Calls Trump 'Cruel'
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Former Vice President Kamala Harris defended the "overwhelmingly peaceful" protesters in Los Angeles while criticizing President Donald Trump's deployment of National Guard troops as a "dangerous escalation" and "cruel" on the third consecutive day of violent clashes between demonstrators and law enforcement. Harris' statement notably did not condemn the violence that has characterized the ongoing demonstrations, marking a stark contrast with Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass's explicit condemnation of destructive behavior. Taking to social media, Mayor Bass posted a statement on Friday, saying, "This morning we received reports of federal immigration enforcement actions in multiple locations in Los Angeles." "As Mayor of a proud city of immigrants, who contribute to our city in so many ways, I am deeply angered by what has taken place," Bass said. "These tactics sow terror in our communities and disrupt basic principles of safety in our city. My office is in close coordination with immigrant rights community organizations. We will not stand for this." The protests, which began last week in response to federal immigration enforcement operations by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), have escalated into sustained confrontations involving rock-throwing, alleged Molotov cocktails, burning vehicles, and arrests across multiple Los Angeles locations. My statement on what's unfolding in Los Angeles. — Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) June 8, 2025 This is a developing story and will be updated when more information is available.
New York Post
7 hours ago
- New York Post
How far would Dems have let the LA riots go if Trump HADN'T sent in the National Guard?
Police in Los Angeles finally began moving to disperse the anti-ICE rioters late Saturday night — after President Donald Trump announced he was sending in the National Guard. Until then, cops were under orders to stand down as the 'mostly peaceful protesters' hurled rocks, bricks and fireworks at federal agents — also torching vehicles and physically blocking ICE enforcement actions. The rioters filmed their own violence, sharing it on social media. Advertisement And it all followed Mayor Karen Bass' incendiary words Friday as she slammed ICE raids taking dozens of illegal migrants into custody. 'We will not stand for this,' Bass declared, insisting ICE's actions 'sow terror in our communities and disrupt basic principles of safety in our city' and bragging that her office was 'in close coordination' with lefty 'community organizations' — an outright cue for the rioting to begin. By the time police finally got orders to control the chaos, they had to engage in running battles with the mobs in downtown LA and the suburb of Paramount. Advertisement How bad would it have gotten if Trump hadn't announced that 2,000 National Guard troops were on their way? Gov. Gavin Newsom denounced Trump's move as 'purposefully inflammatory' — a clear sign that he wasn't going to intervene and proving that the prez was entirely right to cut the pretty boy out of the chain of command. We'll never know for sure how bad Bass and Newsom would've let things get — but we do know that just months ago they were completely feckless in the face of a natural disaster. Were they going to be more aggressive in fighting fires set by their own political allies? Advertisement It's guaranteed that reinforcements for the rioters were on the way, from the nationwide cadres of leftist goons that flock to every outbreak of 'unrest' these days — the folks who in 2020 burned down much of Minneapolis in the George Floyd riots (after Gov. Tim Walz waited days to send in the Guard) and for months laid nightly siege to the federal courthouse in Portland, Ore. If you don't shut rioting down fast and hard, it keeps growing: Los Angeles learned that lesson in the 1992 Rodney King riots — though Bass and Newsom have either forgotten that fact, or don't care. Here's the thing: A Democratic president waved 10 million illegal migrants into the interior, and the nation responded by electing Trump to send the masses back home, starting with the violent criminals among them as well as those who'd exhausted their legal claims to stay. But plenty of Democratic pols still hold power — and are using it to protect the Biden-Harris 'legacy' against the Trump deportation drive even in these open-and-shut cases. Advertisement From Newark to New York, Chicago to Los Angeles, Democrats are preaching anarchy, pretending that ICE agents have no legal right to arrest people who are here illegally. Elected officials — from Bass to Newark Mayor Ras Baraka and Boston's Michelle Wu — are calling for 'resistance' to law enforcement. Rallying riots, in other words. Now they're calling Team Trump 'deranged' for moving to shut down the LA rioting. Progressive Democrats think they can still get away with memory-holing any and all evidence that doesn't fit their agenda. All the footage of that masked guy waving a Mexican flag as he motorcycled around a blazing car? You're supposed to just consider it another 'cheap fake.'
The Hill
7 hours ago
- The Hill
Tensions rise in Los Angeles as police declare ‘unlawful' assembly
Tensions mounted in Los Angeles Sunday afternoon as police clashed with protesters on a freeway and declared another protest outside the Metropolitan Detention Center 'unlawful.' Dozens of protesters were arrested throughout the day. About 300 National Guard members were deployed in the city, after President Trump made the extraordinary decision to send members of the military to counter what he called 'insurrectionist mobs.' The protesters, responding to the Trump administration's immigration raids in the city, blocked the 101 freeway starting at about 3:30 p.m. in Los Angeles. Police officers, firing tear gas canisters and other projectiles into the crowds, managed to clear the highway by 5 p.m. Hundreds of people continued to line the surrounding streets. Shortly after 3 p.m., LAPD announced that a separate pocket of protesters outside the city's prison in Alameda was illegal and that arrests were underway. 'An UNLAWFUL ASSEMBLY has been declared for the area of Alameda between 2nd St and Aliso St. A DISPERSAL ORDER has been issued. Arrests are being made,' LAPD wrote on X. CNN reported that police officers were seen striking and pushing protesters and deploying flash-bangs and tear gas into the crowd. Mayor Karen Bass (D), who slammed Trump's decision to send the National Guard into the city, issued a warning to protesters who did not remain peaceful. 'We will always protect the constitutional right for Angelenos to peacefully protest. However, violence, destruction and vandalism will not be tolerated in our City and those responsible will be held fully accountable,' she wrote on X. She later said the chaos on Sunday was 'provoked by the administration.' Dan Bongino, the deputy FBI director, also issued a warning as tensions mounted through the afternoon. 'If you choose violence tonight, this message is for you. We will be investigating and pursuing all available leads for assault on a federal officer, in addition to the many arrests already made,' he wrote on X. All 23 Democratic governors issued a statement Sunday afternoon slamming Trump's decision to federalize California's National Guard, using a law that hasn't been used in decades, arguing it was both unnecessary and escalatory. Gov. Gavin Newsom's (D) office sent a letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Sunday asking him to rescind the order deploying armed forces into the city. Trump spoke briefly to reporters before boarding Air Force One en route to Camp David on Sunday afternoon. He said he would meet military leaders at the presidential retreat, but did not say what they were meeting about. Asked by reporters whether he would invoke the Insurrection Act, which expands the president's powers during a national security crisis, Trump suggested the protests were not yet an 'insurrection.' However, soon after that, he described the protesters as an 'insurrectionist mob' in a post on Truth Social. 'I am directing Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, and Attorney General Pam Bondi, in coordination with all other relevant Departments and Agencies, to take all such action necessary to liberate Los Angeles from the Migrant Invasion, and put an end to these Migrant riots,' Trump wrote. 'Order will be restored, the Illegals will be expelled, and Los Angeles will be set free.'
